Canon F. Bryan Williams

The Rev. Canon F. Bryan Williams, retired Episcopal priest, died May 20, 2006, at Westminster-Canterbury, Charlottesville. He served parishes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before his 1995 retirement. Williams attended Hampton-Sydney College and is a 1953 graduate of UVA. He attended General Theological Seminary in New York, earning the Master of Divinity degree in 1983, the year of his ordination. He was named an honorary Canon in the diocese of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1996. Prior to seminary, Williams worked in financial and corporate public relations, eventually heading his own New York firm. Club memberships included the University Club, Players Club, the Amateur Comedy Club, the Devon Yacht Club, and the Maidstone Club of East Hampton. He was active in the Metropolitan Opera Club and National Council of the Metropolitan Opera. He was a board member of Eugene O'Neill Theatre Foundation and headed the National Critics Institute. He also served on the boards of the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House, the Harlem Philharmonic, and the Baroque Recording Society. In Virginia, he was a member of the Greencroft Club (Ivy) and the Theta Chi fraternity. Williams traveled widely and was familiar with every continent except Antarctica. He is remembered for his witty writing style and devotion to the arts. Williams was born in Richmond in 1931, son of Francis Bryan Williams and Louise Garibaldi Williams. He was predeceased by a sister, Wendy Williams, and leaves no survivors. A solemn pontifical burial liturgy will be celebrated at Christ Church, Charlottesville, on Saturday, May 27, at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at Riverview Cemetery, 1401 S. Randolph St., Richmond, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to the Westminster Canterbury Scholarship Fund, 250 Pantops Mountain Road, Charlottesville, Va. 22911. Hill and Wood Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Friends may sign the guest register online at www.hillandwood.com.